Notes
from Vegan Outreach

“Meatier”
– The Key to Animal Liberation

My parents always turned up their noses at
the prospect of eating meat alternatives instead
of the real thing, until Gardein came along
and changed everything. It’s nice to
know that competition in this niche is intensifying:
it’s threatening the #1 reason
that Americans continue to eat animals.

Activist
Profile: Kenny Torrella

Continuing our series
of activist
profiles, we meet Kenny Torrella!
Here is an excerpt:

Why
do you leaflet?

I
leaflet because it’s a cost- and time-effective
way to directly inform people about the routine
cruelties inflicted upon farmed animals. The
average person isn’t going to seek out this
information, so it’s up to us to get out on
the streets and inform people about what’s going
on and how they can prevent cruelty to animals.

What
was your most positive leafleting experience
and why?

Every
time I meet someone who says they went vegetarian
or vegan because of a booklet, and every time
someone stops to talk to me, is a positive experience.
To know that I’ve helped someone make choices
to reduce violence in the world, or even getting
someone thinking about this issue, is very rewarding.

What
would you say to individuals hesitant about
leafleting?

I
would say, “Go for it!” The first
time is the hardest, but after that it just
gets easier and more rewarding. It’s important
to know that pretty much everyone will either
take the booklet and say “thank you,”
or they won’t take the booklet and say “no
thanks.” Occasionally someone will say
a rude comment, but it’s rare, and I’m willing
to take a rude comment now and then if it also
means I’m able to inform thousands of people
about this important cause.

Notes
from Our Members

Daniel
went veg after getting a booklet at Cal
Poly Pomona last semester.

Tyler, Jenna, Frank, Mike, Austin,
Steve, and I reached 700 young
people in only 45 minutes at the Chinatown Parade.
Even telling people it was a booklet about animal
cruelty, I know we could have reached a lot
more people if we had brought more booklets.—Kenny Torrella, 1/29/12

I spent my lunch in front of John
Jay College. One woman stopped
dead in her tracks halfway down the block and
read the whole thing right there. I brought
her a Guide
and spoke to her a bit. She seemed very surprised
and concerned about the implications of her
food choices. Another woman doubled back after
receiving her booklet, asking for several more
to give to the young people in her life. —Lisa Hines, 1/27/12

At Portland State, Cobie, Nettie, and I met a ton of veg students
who are excited to get things moving on this
campus, including two women who hope to work
with the school’s animal rights club, and others
who would like to get leafleting for Vegan Outreach.
I also met briefly with the campus environmental
group, and gave them each an Even If You
Like Meat, and left a stack of Guides
for them. I also met the amazing Jessika,
who has been using the 30 minutes between her
classes to hand out booklets at PSU regularly.
Cobie met a man who wondered out loud how anyone could eat meat after reading our lit. We
agreed!—Caleb Wheeldon, 11/9/11

Another
CSU East Bay student is engrossed in learning
the truth, after getting a booklet from
Brian.

Good interactions at Oklahoma State,
where I reached over 1,000 students.
One woman told me the booklet would probably
push her to being veg. Reached almost 1,000
again today at the University of Oklahoma, with
loads of good conversations. Met two soon-to-be
vegetarians!—Jeni Haines, 10/18/11

Cabrillo
College was great! I met Macie
last time there, and she ditched some class
to help out. I presented to Jasmin’s high
school animal rights group a few years ago and
now she goes to Cabrillo. She also got out of
class to help. There are tons of vegans / vegetarians,
but more importantly, there are lots
of students who are not yet veg but who are
very interested in the material. Definitely
had some great conversations.
Before hitting American High School, I had lunch
with my friend and great VO supporter, Keyur.
We are both nuts about being as productive as
possible and like to read a lot about the subject.
We chatted about this at lunch and I have since
been motivated to develop a new strategy to
be as productive as possible with my time.
Today at Cal State East Bay, I handed a VO
booklet to my 300,000th person. It was an awesome
feeling. I like that if someone asks me what
I’ve been doing the last four years I
can point them to my Adopt a College profile
and they can see where I’ve been and what
I’ve accomplished. —Brian Grupe, 11/4/11

Vegan
Outreach is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
dedicated to reducing the suffering of
farmed animals by promoting informed,
ethical eating.